THE Chinese Lunar New Year has commenced; a happy new year to all Chinese friends—the year of the dragon—which has great significance for China.
As the symbol of Chinese nation, dragon (—´Lóng) represents authority and good fortune. It has the fifth position among the Chinese zodiac animals. People born in the year of the Dragon are powerful, kind-hearted, successful, innovative, brave, healthy, courageous and enterprising.
Dragons are seen as lucky and good — quite different to the evil, dangerous, fire-breathing dragons of most Western myths.
Emperors in ancient China were identified as the sons of dragons and, at that time, ordinary people were not allowed to have items with pictures of dragons on them. Most Chinese dragons’ pictures have long bodies like snakes and sharp claws like hawks — less like dinosaurs than Western dragons. Chinese dragons live at the bottom of seas, rivers, lakes, or anywhere with water.
During China’s imperial dynasties, emperors used the dragon as a symbol of their imperial power and authority. Dragon emblems can be found in carvings on the stairs, walkways, furniture, and clothes of the imperial palace. It was against the law for common people to use things related to dragons in imperial times.
In Chinese legend, the Dragon Kings were believed to be the rulers of weather and water, such as rainfall, waterfalls, rivers, and seas. Four Dragon Kings each controlled a sea of China: ‘East Sea’ (the East China Sea), ‘South Sea’ (the South China Sea), ‘West Sea’ (Qinghai Lake and lakes beyond), and ‘North Sea’ (Lake Baikal). The four Dragon Kings were believed to be the dispensers of rain and wind.
In many Chinese villages, there are still some temples or shrines to worship the Dragon Kings to seek their blessings of good weather for harvests and all year round. In pre-modern times, local people offered sacrifices to appease the Dragon Kings to stop flooding or droughts.
It was said that thousands of years ago, Yandi (a legendary tribal leader) was born through his mother’s telepathic interaction with a mighty dragon. With the help of the dragon and allied with Huangdi (a legendary tribal leader and, by some accounts, the grandson of a dragon), they opened the prelude to Chinese civilization. So, “emperors” Yandi and Huangdi were the ancestors of the Chinese people. It is said that the two emperors were immortalized as dragons before they ascended to heaven. As time went by, Chinese people began to refer to themselves as ‘the descendants of Yandi and Huangdi’, as well as ‘descendants of dragons’. In ancient China’s legends, Shennong the ‘Divine Farmer’ was the son of a dragon and a beautiful princess, and some say the father of Huangdi (the Yellow Emperor). He taught people to develop agriculture and to use herbal drugs. Shennong was considered as a primogenitor of the Chinese people and hero of ancient China. So, the dragon is considered to bring good fortune, harvest, and prosperity. The Chinese dragon has been transformed from an imaginary progenitor to a mascot from ancient times to the present. It represents the Chinese people’s unrelenting and pioneering spirit of keeping pace with the times.
There are blue, green, red, black, white, yellow, and golden dragons in Chinese culture. Different colors of dragon represent different things.
Red is China’s luckiest color. It is often used to decorate the house/building used for a wedding or festival. The red dragon therefore has lucky symbolism. People paint red dragons to decorate their houses or walkways to celebrate various festivals. It is a tradition to use red dragons for dragon dances.
Black Chinese dragons are often related to vengeance. In some Chinese movies, many criminal organizations or street gangs use black dragons as their emblems. Criminals often have black dragon tattoos on their arms or back, which represent evil or revenge. In ancient China, the black dragon is often linked to catastrophes like storms and floods.
White is traditionally connected to death and mourning in Chinese culture. However, a white Chinese dragon symbolizes purity and virtue.
In Chinese culture, blue and green are colors representing nature, health, healing, peace, and growth. A blue/green dragon symbolizes the approaching of spring, new life, and plant growth.
Golden Chinese dragons are associated with powerful deities or harvest. Golden dragons always symbolize wealth, prosperity, strength, harvest, and power.
The Dragon is the fifth Chinese zodiac sign, part of the 12-animal cycle. People born in the years 1904, 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, or 2024 belong to the Dragon zodiac sign, and are known as Dragons. People born in a year of the Dragon are believed to have a personality of confidence, power, resolution, and high esteem.
This scribe was born in the year of the Dragon. Some famous personalities, born in the year of the Dragon, include: Bruce Lee, Martin Luther King, Vladimir Putin, Che Guevara, Christian Dior, Pele, Gregory Peck, Liam Neeson, Imran Khan and Deng Xiaoping among others.
Babies born in a year of the Dragon are believed to be lucky, wealthy, and successful. Because of its auspicious connotations, the dragon is the favorite sign with Chinese parents who prefer to give birth to their babies in a year of the Dragon. According to public data, the number of children born in Dragon years is much larger than in other zodiac years.
The dragon dance is an important cultural performance used to celebrate festivals in China. It is also a symbol of Chinese culture.
In ancient times, when there was no rain for a long time, people prayed for rain with a dragon dance, and dragon dances after planting were also a way to pray against insect attacks. Nowadays, dragon dances are performed during festive occasions to chase away evil spirits and welcome in prosperous times.
China’s President Xi Jinping told former President Donald Trump in 2017 that the Chinese people are black-haired, yellow-skinned “descendants of the dragon.”
—The writer is a Retired Group Captain of PAF, who has written several books on China.
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